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Are crunches and sit-ups bad movements that we should avoid?

No, according to science, these movements are *not* bad movements. But you wouldn’t know that if you relied on social media posts from yoga and fitness influencers these days for your movement information and guidance! 😉

Our spine consists of over 75 individual joints which all have movement available to them. That is a ton of potential for movement, and moving the joints of our body through their full ranges of motion on a regular basis is a great way to keep our musculoskeletal system mobile and healthy!

Here’s the biomechanical scoop on crunches and sit-ups:

Crunches target our abdominals, while sit-ups target our abdominals and our hip flexors.

These movements target these muscles dynamically, through a range of motion. This is *good*. We ideally want to target our muscles through all of their ranges: short, mid-range, and long.

In fact, when we strength train our muscles through full ranges of motion, this results in more strength gains!

(Normal crunches & sit-ups don’t involve full range of motion because they start from a neutral spine position, but you can set up variations that include a stretched position for the targeted muscles, which can be an excellent strategy!)

Dynamic vs. isometric core work

While crunches & sit-ups target our anterior core muscles dynamically, we can also target these same muscles isometrically, which means that they work while we hold a position statically.

Dead bugs, bird dogs, and planks are examples of isometric anterior core work.

Both isometric and dynamic core work are good! We don’t need to pick just one and demonize the other heh heh.

No one *needs* to do crunches & sit-ups, but if you want to strength train your anterior core dynamically in the sagittal plane, they’re a very effective option.

With all of this said, crunches are a bit of a staple core work move that we’re all familiar with.

If you’re interested in some new and creative core work ideas for your yoga practice or teaching, I’ve shared my top 5 unique core strengtheners in this video. I hope they inspire you in your yoga/movement practice or teaching!